Dear Neighbours,

Many of you will be aware that we have experienced years of unsocial behaviour and criminal activity on our estate.

This has worsened over the past two years, following the closure of the footpath that leads from Backworth Court to Station Road. This has resulted in numerous incidents from groups of youths, sometimes in gangs of 20+ demonstrating unsocial behaviour and causing criminal damage to our cars and property, which further escalated in March when one of our residents was attacked by a number of these youths, suffering broken ribs and other injuries.

More recently, bins were set alight near the flats by two younger boys who poured fuel on them around 3:30 in the morning, potentially causing danger to life.  

Over the years there have been many other criminal incidents:  a car set on fire, numerous thefts from and/or damage to vehicles, dubious cars driving into the cul-de-sac in the small hours of the morning with comings and goings through the cut onto station road, burglaries on Christmas Eve 2021 when the individual was apprehended by police at around 3 am with hundreds of pounds of stolen goods from nearby houses… the list goes on and if you want to see the extent of the criminal activity you can google crime rates and compare us to other areas, which by itself has a detrimental effect on those hoping to sell their house.

Unfortunately, the time has come when we feel something needs to be done and the common denominator to this are the two cuts on either side of Meadow Vale leading to Station Road. If it wasn’t for these cuts there would be no reason for these gangs of youths to enter our street and there would be no easy means of escape for people carrying out other crimes. These events are causing unnecessary distress for our hard-working residents, and we are also concerned about the mental health of our children who are often witnesses to these incidents.  

It is important that we all now take a stand and we are asking you to sign this petition to help us permanently close these cuts. This has already been brought to the attention of our local Councillor, MP and Mayor who are all supportive of the cut closures as they have a duty to keep our streets safe.

Thank you for your support.

Note: you can see some of the evidence on our Neighbourhood Watch Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/northumberlandparkneighbourhoodwatch

We have also used the hashtag #ASB as a topic for the Police and NT Council: https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/ASB/?__gid__=3470872136284242